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Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has said that the civil service is moving away from an “old-fashioned” culture of “presenteeism”, and argued that remote working can increase productivity.

Leading politicians are engaged in a “conspiracy” to prevent reforms to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA), Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) chair Bernard Jenkin has told CSW.

Moira Wallace, the permanent secretary of the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) resigned last month, days before a critical report by the Commons’ Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECC) was published. The report, which examined her department’s flagship Energy Bill, said that continued rows between DECC and the Treasury have made the policy “unworkable.”

Secretaries of state are to be given direct input into senior civil service appraisals so that ministers don’t suspect civil servants of feeling they can “pick and choose” which coalition policies they implement, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has told Civil Service World.

The changes to the Fast Stream outlined in the Civil Service Reform Plan last week are a “brave experiment,” Mike Emmott from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development has told CSW.

Sir Mark Walport is to become the government’s next chief scientific adviser in April 2013, it has been announced. He was chosen via an open competition, and replaces Sir John Beddington.

The FDA trade union “flatly rejects” proposals to introduce performance-related pay for the senior civil service, the union’s general secretary Dave Penman has told CSW.

The new job of director general for civil service reform has been awarded on an interim basis to Andrew Campbell from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), Civil Service World has learned.

Permanent secretaries will be covered by the new rules on performance set out in the Civil Service Reform Plan, Sharon White, director general of public spending in the Treasury, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday. This means that the poorest performing 10 per cent of permanent secretaries will be identified and given extra support and training.

The government’s reform plans fall well short of the aim of creating a more professional civil service, says Dai Hudd

The Civil Service Benevolent Fund has rebranded, been given a new name, and switched the focus of its services to concentrate on information and advice rather than financial assistance.

A solicitor representing David Owen, a civil servant suing the Treasury for unfair dismissal, has said that officials are threatening to ignore the judge’s decision should he rule in Owen’s favour.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) failed to plan out the skills it will need in the long term before cutting its civilian and military workforces, according a report published by the Public Accounts Committee on Friday.

The government’s civil service reform plan will increase the “corporate management” of the senior civil service and allow departments to better understand the abilities of employees in other organisations when recruiting, Sir Bob Kerslake, head of the civil service, has told CSW.

Dave Penman, the current deputy general secretary of the FDA, will become the trade union’s next general secretary later this year, it was announced yesterday.

Civil servants in the PCS Union will strike on 10 May over reforms to public sector pensions, the trade union announced last week. They will be joined by NHS workers from the Unite trade union, it said.

The Treasury needs to improve its contingency planning, broaden the capability of its staff, and encourage officials to challenge policy orthodoxies if it is to better handle future financial crises, a report has stated.

The Cabinet Office is to run a central academy to train civil servants and local government employees in commissioning and procurement, the department has told CSW.

An overwhelming majority of civil servants (79 per cent) believe that they would benefit from ‘new ways of working’ (NWW) – such as hot desking and remote working – and some 99 per cent believe that their departments would benefit, according to CSW research carried out in conjunction with property and infrastructure firm Capita Symonds.

A new proposal for civil service pension reform has been sent to trade unions for consultation, following the conclusion of talks between both sides earlier this month.

The head of Civil Service Learning (CSL), Jerry Arnott, has told CSW that he’s relying on departments’ procurement and finance professionals to ensure that all training purchases pass through CSL’s ‘Gateway’ – a key element of the reforms to civil service training set to come into force on 1 April.

A Public Administration Select Committee report into the role of the independent adviser on ministers’ interests has concluded that the role is not “independent in any meaningful sense”. 

Despite a change of approach in Whitehall, civil servants in Northern Ireland will continue to pursue ‘spend to save’, Dr Malcolm McKibbin, head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS), has told CSW.